Lost Letters
by E.B.Smith
Summary: The letters written by a man stranded in Silent Hill waiting to die. He documents how he got there and what has happened to him in his quest to seek comfort during a difficult divorce.
1. Chapter 1

_I came here looking for you, for us. I somehow knew I would find you here, and that perhaps you would be able to forgive me for all the pain I caused you._

_I remember those days we spent at the Amusement Park, I have never told you how much I loved those days, how much it meant to me just being with you._

_I remember you admiring the view of the lake from the top o the ferris wheel, I said it was 'beautiful', but I never once saw it. I spent the whole time staring at your hand on the railing, and trying to build up the courage to reach out and hold it, but you always made me so nervous._

_I told you that I loved it here, but I really only came to see you. The truth is, I always hated this place, you were the only thing that made this town worth coming to._

_And now I have lost you again, I don't know where you are, or if you are still alive and it's killing me._

_How do I find you again? How do I fight to get you back? I can never leave without you. You always said you felt drawn to this place, and I think I finally understand, as now I find myself unable to ever leave. It seems my memory of you belongs to the town, but I can't let you go. I can never let you go._

I remember the phone call.

She didn't say anything right away, it was just silent, but I could vaguely hear breathing coming from the receiver and I knew it was her. Frankly, she could have said nothing at all; I already knew what she was going to say.

"I want a divorce, Michael."

And who could blame her? I had the phone in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other; I'd given up using a glass as the continuous pouring was a strain on my wrist.

"Did you hear me?"

I remember being distracted by the heat, it was dark outside and the darkness seemed to hold a damp warmth that was amplified by my apartment walls and the alcohol in my system. I replied with a mumble and hung up. If she wants a divorce, she can sort it out herself and I won't stop her.

I spent most of that night watching TV and agonising over whether she could tell I was drunk over the phone.

It was only in the early hours of the morning that what she had said started to sink in; once the whiskey had dried up and I was alone with my sorry sobering state. I was no longer numbed by the booze, and was starting to feel the full force of what was happening to my life. Just what I had been trying to avoid by drinking in the first place.

I felt depressed, so depressed. I don't know if it was the guilt of what I had done, or just me feeling sorry for myself, but I was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of pure darkness, like my apartment had descended into the deepest levels of the abyss and if I opened my front door, there would only be endless black.

I found myself thinking about her, Leanne. And my thoughts always fell back to the same place, Silent Hill.

Every year, my parents would take me to Silent Hill for a vacation. I hated it and couldn't wait till I was old enough to stay home instead. But one year, she was there. I was 15, she was 14. She too, had come with her family from another town to visit her Grandmother. This particular year, their trip coincided with ours and we met at the motel we were staying in.

Leanne and I spent all our time together, whilst our parents did _their_ thing, we did ours. We went to the Lake Side Amusement Park a lot, and by the end of our visit, our parents had become friends too, and from then on, every year we would see them at Silent Hill.

I married her. She was so beautiful, and I wanted to dedicate my life to her. I wanted to be a husband, and her to be my wife. We both had the same ideas about marriage, she liked to cook, I enjoyed working, and we both wanted a traditional family life.

Eventually we decided to have a child, but we couldn't conceive. After a year of trying, we found that I was infertile. 'Shooting blanks', as the say. I took it bad, we stopped sleeping together, and I started drinking instead. I lost my job because I started going into work drunk, so I drank more, and got angrier and angrier. Leanne suffered years of my rage until her parents convinced her to leave. And so I ended up alone in a small studio apartment, waiting for a divorce.


	2. Chapter 2

I felt like our happiness was left behind when we left Silent Hill. That's why I'm here now. After days of drinking, I decided to drive here. I packed my things and left the apartment empty, no food, no clothes, no signs of life. My life now was in my clapped out Peugeot in the form of a single sports bag. I felt ready to leave forever even though I had no real plan, except to stir up those good memories in the one place I hated the most. Maybe I subconsciously planned on killing myself.

I stopped in a town on the edge of Paleville County for a drink. Thankfully, after that, the roads were pretty quiet before being totally empty, I was a little drunk and didn't want to see a cop car. Not that it stopped me drinking in the first place, or driving afterwards for that matter.

It was so peaceful driving along the main road that leads to Toluca Lake, it is framed by the steep forestry of the valley, and when you reach it, you could easily be convinced that you're the only person left in the world; the valley walls hold in a dense brume that seems to gently shroud the whole lake and surrounding area. There's even a lack of wildlife, despite the warning signs.

I had barely reached the edge of the lake when the rusted Peugeot became just a rusted pile of crap when the engine gave in. The guy that sold it to me swore there was 'loads of life left in it', not that it mattered, all my money was going on my new bachelor pad and it was all I could afford.

So I walked the rest of the way. I noticed a silence that made me feel uneasy, I wasn't totally sure at first why this was; I was in an area that held no big cities or towns, and no main roads to produce that noises I was so used to. Then I realised, no birds. There was no breeze moving through the trees, and no birds singing amongst them. There was simply nothing. I kept looking around as I walked, my sports bag hanging lazily from my shoulder and gently rustling against my thigh. My car quickly disappeared in the mist, at which point I felt stranded.

I reached a folk in the road; I checked the road map before taking the left turn which scaled the top of the lake and lead to Old Silent Hill, and the Amusement Park. I could only just see the edge of the lake seeping out from beneath the mist, as it gently lapped against the stony bank, I could faintly hear its hypnotic patting rhythm.

I walked until I reached a hotel on the right side of the road, I estimated that I had been walking for about fifteen minutes and noticed my watch had stopped. My gaze drifted from my wrist to an elegant but somewhat worn sign reading 'Lake View Hotel'. I was hoping the get directions to the nearest garage so that I could send for my car, and gain some reassurance that I was heading the right way but I was not going to get that there. The Place was empty. The outside was discoloured and stained black around the windows, and the foyer was black and tired. It was apparent that there had been a fire some time ago. A grand staircase stood cold and lifeless, and lead only to closed doors. The carpet was stained with ash, and there was a light dripping sound coming from the corner on the room, where a large wet puddle sunk into the old fibres. There was, quite clearly, nobody here, so I left.

More woodland presented itself before finally the bridge that declared the entrance into the resort area became visible. As I crossed the bridge, I expected to start hearing the cocktail of noises that make up that distinguished tourist town audio; it never came. The pier was in disuse, and the buildings began emerging silently as though creeping towards me, dragging with them that obdurate fog.

Assuming that the resort had closed for the season, I moved on with a reticence that I couldn't shake off, I was disturbed by the relentless sullen atmosphere that intensified with every desolate building. I found a garage next to the lake but couldn't see anyone around and all the doors were shut tight. I carried on until I reached the Riverside Motel at the edge of the business district, where we used to stay when I was young, and still the area remained shrouded in dead air. I planned on staying there again but found that it too, was empty. Most of the room keys were left in the head office, to which the door was closed, but unlocked. I figured that as I couldn't leave until I got my car fixed, that I might as well take a set of keys and use one of the rooms anyway.

I took a room on the second floor, it was about the same size as my apartment, and just as gloomy. It was good to get away from the grey air, but it gave me time to dwell on the desertion of the town and I found myself not wanting to venture into it again. All of my instincts were telling me to leave this place, but then my thoughts fell on booze. I battled over whether or not to look for somewhere to get a drink and inevitably decided I might as well; I couldn't leave without a car anyway.

I skulked stealthily for about 200 yards and saw a general store on Crichton Street. I managed to stay far enough away from the buildings in the business area to feel hopeful that there may be life yet. The store windows were dull and cracked in places, and the front door was wedged open against an overturned magazine display. Dented tins and squashed packets blanketed the floor; carefully I stepped behind the cashier desk, avoiding the broken glass and sticky patches of dried spirits. I stood in a gaze at the array of various bottles, I needed company so I took a bottle of Jack Daniels and suspended above the floor by its neck. Eager to head back to the motel, I retraced my steps through the stained shards, but noticed something at the other end of the aisle I stood opposite.

'Is that blood?' Surprise made me speak aloud unexpectedly; I even startled myself.

An intense wave of heat rolled through me, making my head feel swollen and heavy. I approached slowly until I could see the large puddle clearly enough to see the deep vermillion transition into dark brown at the edges where it had begun to dry. Further brown stains were smeared in perfect formation toward an open door marked 'Staff Only', the trails continued over the threshold and disappeared into the dark room. I turned and marched out of the shop, I felt strangely calm and was quite happy to block the event from my mind until I reached the motel.

I hastily closed and locked the motel door, then threw myself towards the phone only to find it dead. What now? I sat on the edge of the bed and took a few swigs of whiskey, I was thinking about the blood and what I might of found had I followed it into the back of the shop. Half the bottle gone, I stood and stumbled, held out my hands for a second to gain my balance and told myself I wasn't drunk. I negotiated the outside steps with care and crossed the court to the head office. The phones there were dead too.

Confused, to put it mildly, I sat for a while on a swivel chair. With the office door open, the mist seemed to creep in, and I could see the other motel rooms across the court just sitting in pale grey looking morbid and lonely. The longer I stared, the denser the fog seemed to get, like when you gaze into the darkness, it seems to always be getting darker and darker.

Once again, I crossed the court, but was stopped dead at the sound of distorted footsteps. The figure of a person disappeared into the fog near the road, I lightly jogged until its form became visible again. A man. He was limping and stumbling along, 'He's drunker than me,' I thought to myself.

'Hey! Excuse me?!' I called out. He slowed, but didn't face me. 'Sir!'

A closer view showed him to be naked and moving more erratically than I had realised, I slowed my pace as I began realising that it wasn't a man at all.

It had sallow wet skin, like some sort of alien humanoid. As it moved, it chaotically squirmed its head from side to side and emitted an agonised moan. It awkwardly swivelled towards me as though in excruciating discomfort, revealing its cadaverous body. It lacked facial features and genitals, but I was more horrified by the fact that it had no arms, but its chest bulged and wriggled as though they were growing beneath its skin and desperately trying to break free.

It made a deafening pulsating screech at me and shuddered before leaning back, and a viscous black liquid was forced into the air from a vicious open wound on its chest. The liquid sprayed high into the air, fell onto the concrete infront of me and fizzed like hot rain. I fell backwards with a drunken thud and felt the air in my lungs compress. The monster came closer, dripping black in a sporadic pattern onto the pavement, a drip landed on the corner of my shoe. I had landed next to a small cluster of bins, where a pile of broken wood leaned against the wall. In panic as the creature loomed above me, I grabbed a piece at random, and crawled backwards away from the thing then used the long plank to help me onto my feet. I steadied my legs and, gripping the plank fiercely, swung at the head. A large gash split its neck almost right through and the force of the blow knocked its head backwards, ripping open the wound even more until its head hung loosely against its back by a rubbery vertebrae, leaving the dead tissue of its neck exposed. It fell to the floor and lay still, I circled it and examined the wound. Inside was only stiff grey tissue and rank yellow bands of fat like is was rotting from inside out whilst still alive. An inspection of my weapon revealed a nasty rusted nail protruding from the splintered surface, a lump of yellow fat clung to the nail like corn dog. The revolting smell of the corpse made me gag violently until I threw up pure whiskey, the burning liquid trickled through my nose, relieving me of the noxious odour.

I ran back to the motel room, taking the wood with me. I bolted and locked the door and pushed a large chest of drawers infront of it, then closed the curtains. I sat on the bed, holding the plank of wood firmly with both hands.


	3. Chapter 3

I noticed a small hole in the side of my shoe…acid? What sort of creature could produce acid? I considered the possibility that it was an alien, but there was no way of knowing. I had to leave, that _was_ for sure. I decided to wait until I was completely sober then move as fast as possible out of the town. I had two options:

I could head back towards the car, avoid going through the main town, but it was a long road back to the town I had passed through on my way here…

Or I could take the risk of moving through the business area and head towards Brahms, the closest town just north of Silent Hill.

I chose the latter. I waited anxiously on the bed; I laid down and rested my feet but never fully let go of the wooden plank. I must have slept for a considerable time because when I opened my eyes, the room was in total darkness. I peered outside and saw nothing besides infinite black, night had come so early and the obscuring fog and powerless streetlamps left the streets in pitch dark. I cupped my hands round my eyes and pressed against the window, but I couldn't even see the outer window sill, as though the glass had been painted with tar.

I couldn't go out in that darkness, so I waited…and waited. I waited for hours but the light never came. I had no choice, I had to leave.

I grabbed my bag and took out a t-shirt, ripped it into long strips and wound it around the end of the plank, securing it by impaling each layer onto the protruding nail. I then changed into a pair of old Khaki trousers that were equipped with various pockets and zips. I memorized the road map and slotted it into a pocket by my knee, next went my wallet into a buttoned pocket on the back. I then took out my Zippo and some lighter fluid. I lightly squirted some fluid onto the old t-shirt and tucked it into another pocket. I smoked a cigarette, and swore I would quite when I got home.

I stamped out the butt and rubbed it into the carpet, when I'd unblocked the door and was ready to leave, I lit the torch. Slowly the flame spread across the fabric, illuminating the room with a warm ambience. I silently opened the door, and stepped out into the dark.

As I reached the road, I picked up pace, the dull circle of light following me like a negative shadow. Distant whines echoed from between the buildings as I moved up Crichton Street and past the general store. I reached the point where I had to turn and move through the business area and stopped for a second. 'I'll run.' Once I take Koontz Street, I need the second turning on the left, then straight up few a few hundred yards until it leads me out of here.

As I built up the energy to make a run for it, I was disturbed by a strange clicking noise on my left. Panting followed, getting closer and closer. I stood perfectly still and waited. It appeared at the edges of the torchlight; a dog. It's rancid body skinless and bloody. It bore its saliva-laced teeth with a pugnacious snarl and stepped closer. It didn't take long before it came charging for me, I took it down with a knock ti its shoulder, the nail buried itself into the bloody muscular pulp of the dog's body and held the flame against it. The animal whimpered and screamed to the crackling of its exposed tissue sizzling. Unable to pull the torch free, I stamped on the animal's head and felt the crunch of its skull as it collapsed into a slimy mess of bone, blood and sinew.

I pulled the nail out and raised the torch high again, only to see a whole pack of more fetid creatures closing in. They growled in sync as I slowly stepped backwards. Behind me was Koontz Street, if I could run, maybe I could lose them.

1…2…3…GO!

I sprinted insanely down the street, two other dogs tried jumping for me from behind old cars and joined the mad pack of relentless rabid canines. I stayed close to the left to count the turnings and became more confident as the dogs fell behind.

That's one…and…TWO

I dived into Simmons Street, the home straight but crashed into a bin on the corner. The torch evaded my hands and was flung through the air ahead of me. As I landed, I heard the wood bounce against the concrete and then black. The fire went out and I was left in total blindness. I could only hear the sound of the pursuing dogs charging towards me, as they came, I closed my eyes and braced myself…

They suddenly got quieter, they continued running past me, apparently unable to see me thanks to the darkness.

I waited until I could no longer hear them, then crawled on my knees, patting the ground to find the wood. I took out my lighter and used it to guide me to it, dowsed it in more lighter fluid and relit it.

I could still feel the adrenaline pumping through me, I was driven on by the hot sensation like an engine pulling me onwards. I was heading north, desperate to find safety.

At one point, I tripped over a dead body, the only human I had seen since I arrived here. The augural sight was hard to look at; I could see now why the streets were abandoned. I stopped, unable to look away from the distorted, maimed figure that lay twisted and broken. His face was half-eaten, chunks had been savagely torn from his head, leaving what remained of his face hanging loosely from strands of tissue and yellow bone. I've never seen and dead body before, though repulsed by his disfigurement, I felt some sort of humbleness that told me we were the same. He may have strayed solo into this God-forlorn place not knowing what fate awaited him; maybe this was to be my fate also.

I passed a mall, at which point I was fighting for breath. I ran and ran but suddenly crack appeared in the road. I followed them to find the surface upturned, and littered with lumps of tarmac. The concrete rose before me in a chaotic mound and then disappeared altogether. The road was completely gone, vanished as though an awesome earthquake had shaken loose a large section of the road and swallowed it. But not only the road was gone; the building at the edge of the hole was ripped in half like the whole land beyond this point had somehow plummeted into an abyss.

The sound of movement came from a doorway nearby, I prepared to fight and watched doorway of an antiques shop intently until a faint figure appeared.

'Michael?' a lonely voice uttered, 'Michael…is that you?'

The figure of a woman emerged from the doorway. It was Leanne.


	4. Chapter 4

Standing meekly in the doorway, Leanne looked at me with a confused squint.

'Leanne.'

She fell towards me with a gentle gasp and I lowered the torch to catch her. I felt her hands clench the back of my jacket, and her hair stroke my lips as I sheltered her head with my chin.

'Let's get inside, it's not safe here.' I took her hand and pulled her into the shop, checking for nearby threats before closing the door. She led me into a small dingy room cluttered with old furniture and oddities. I stood the torch in a clouded vase and she reached out and held my arm.

'What are doing here?'

'I was just visiting – are you ok? Are you hurt?' I asked.

'No, I'm fine, what about you?'

'A close call with some dogs but other than that – why are _you_ here?'

'I was visiting my Grandmother, I told you, remember?' She sounded as though we were how we used to be.

'Sorry, I don't. I thought you're Grandmother was dead?'

'No.' She looked confused.

'Oh, maybe I was thinking of a friend.'

Her shirt sleeves pulled up, I noticed her naked forearm. She used to have a scar there; she stopped wearing short sleeves after the accident. Maybe she had treatment on it since we separated. I wanted to ask how she managed to get rid of it, but I was too embarrassed to mention it.

'Did you see the road?' I said, pointing towards the wall that blocked the outside view.

'Yes.'

'What's the best road out of here?'

'None, they're all like that. I've been wondering around for ages looking for a road that is still intact, but they're _all_ gone.' She claimed.

'How are you not hurt? Did you see those things out there?'

'A couple, I just ran past them.'

We sat in quietus for a while. Though she didn't declare it, I got the impression that she was as pleased to see _me_ as Iwas to see _her_. She seemed so un-different, since our marriage started to fall apart, she changed and became frail and useless. But now she seemed to be back to the person she was all those years ago, still humble, but full of warmth, confidence and good nature. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that it was me that changed her, and that only since I had left, was she able to go back to being the true Leanne.

_Do you remember the view of the lake from the ferris wheel? You said it was beautiful._

Together we ran through the town, my torch in one hand, and her delicate fingers in the other. I led her back along the route I had taken before, and headed for the only road out; the road I came in on.

We saw no dogs, but other creatures. More armless humanoids squealing as they made half-hearted attempts to chase us, but their movements were so laboured that we could ran past them and leave them behind. There were other foreign species roaming the darkness, stocky, monkey-like beasts could be seen sitting in small groups around bloody mounds of what I can only imagine to be meat.

We got to Sandford Street, the long road that scaled the top of the lake, passing the closed garage as we did so. Finally the town came to an end as we crossed over the bridge and came closer to safety.

'Wait…please…I have to stop…' Leanne panted as she loosened her strides.

'No. We have to keep going. We're not safe yet. Just a few more yards at least.' I tugged at her hand to encourage her.

'I can't.'

I stepped ahead and waited for her.

'It's not far. Come on.' I continued onwards in the hope that she would follow for fear that I would leave her behind, but I couldn't go far. The road came to a halt at the edge of another endless abyss.

'NO!' My yell echoed down into the cavern. 'What the FUCK?!'

Leanne joined me at the ledge.

'The road was here!' I insisted.

'Ssshhh…'

'I came _in_ through here…'

'Honey, keep your voice down, you'll attract the monsters.' I let myself drop and slump onto the floor. 'The road _I_ came in on is gone too.'

'So what do we do?' I'd never felt so depleted.

'The pier.' She said. 'Could we take a boat to the other town on the other side of the lake?'

'How would we navigate in the dark?'

'There are fishing boats that must have compasses. Please. What else can we do? Trust me.' She pleaded, her eyes flickering with the flame of the torch.

We had a plan, another town that was part of Silent Hill did indeed sit on the south edge of the lake, and the pier was close by.


	5. Chapter 5

I felt the hard ground become slightly softer as I stepped onto the damp wood of the pier. The dull thuds of my soles landing were echoed by Leanne, who walked along side me firmly holding onto my elbow for security.

A strange whooping noise erupted from the haunting night. I threw my arm out infront of Leanne, backed her away and stood between her and the noise, which, getting louder, flowed from high up. Where is it coming from?

Out of the air it announced itself with a high pitched squawk, riding on bony, featherless wings. It came at me with such speed I barely had a chance to hit it with my only weapon, all I could think of, was doing everything I could to keep it away from Leanne. I grasped its legs as they landed on my chest, I fell to the floor, feeling the sharp talons bury through my jacket and reach my skin. I rolled over a couple of times and the beast flapped insanely and deafened me with a loud screaming that arose from its loathsome body and out of its large fleshy beak. I held its neck, trying to restrain it and keep its mouth away from my face. It flailed wildly, tearing at my chest with dirty claws. The adrenaline of the fight blocked out the pain and the cries from Leanne drove me to insanity. Determined to protect my wife, I tried to break its leathery neck, but my grip couldn't force the thing's bones to dislodge. Wild with instinct, I leaned towards it and sunk my teeth into the exposed flesh. Its skin felt as though it was dissolving beneath the pressure of my jaw, and I could feel its tendons and muscles compressing, changing and puncturing until the skin finally broke with a snap and erupted into a stream of thick blood that leaked into my mouth, mixing with my own saliva. The beast's scream was reduced to a wet gargle that bubbled from the open wound. Eventually it flopped across me, its body resting on my torso and each wing spread out either side.

'Michael! Are you ok?'

I heaved the huge mound of flesh from my chest and pushed it to one side. The body hit the wooden floor with a 'donk'. I stood, and wiped my bloody face roughly with the sleeve of my jacket.

'It's not my blood.' I looked down with a victorious sigh.

'What is it?'

'It looks like a dinosaur, like a Pterodactyl.' Another repulsive monster to catalogue.

We managed to make it to an old fishing boat, where, as we hoped, we found a small compass sitting next to a red notepad. I couldn't help but scan over the words written messily over the paper. It said something about the monsters, and expecting to find something in the lighthouse. It also mentioned someone called Dahlia. I should have read it more thoroughly, it may have given some helpful information, but I was distracted by the hot throbbing of my chest.

'What's wrong?'

'My chest hurts.' I told Leanne.

'Let me see,' she opened my jacket and lifted my torn shirt. I winced in pain and embarrassment. 'These are nasty, they'll get infected.'

'No, they're fine. We'll be out of here soon.' I told her, briskly recovering the weeping gashes.

We left the fishing boat, and climbed into a small row boat that sat in tranquillity, just lightly bobbing up and down with the playful movement on the water.

I felt the wounds on my chest open and stretch as I pulled the oars through the water. I watched Leanne as she repeatedly checked the compass under the light of the fire.

_Do you remember the view? You said it was beautiful._

The mist skated in slow motion across the surface of the lake, parting as we moved through it in our bubble of light that protected us from the brume. We could no longer hear the wretched creatures calling out to us; the air was muted except for the splashes of the oars.

We hit land, it was hard to see where we were until we scrambled up the bank and onto a road and saw that we had landed by a fire station. We started walking cautiously, unsure if what we had encountered in Old Silent Hill would be _here_ too. The menacing lull was not promising. We had moved only a few yards when Leanne spotted a red shape just visible in the distance.

'Get behind me.' I ordered when she nervously pointed it out.

Weapon at ready, I approached. The red shape floated in the air, but more detail became visible as the gap between us closed. Toggles? Is that a rucksack? It moved all of a sudden, it was a man.

The young man turned, startled by us. His anxious face turned to a relieved grin.

'Hi,' he said with a shaky but friendly voice. 'I'm Miles.'

'Michael.' I said.

'Leanne.' Said Leanne

'Nice to meet you.' Miles responded as he leant forwards and took my unoffered hand. He shook it enthusiastically for a long time. I started feeling a bit awkward at the inappropriate duration of the handshake, then noticed his eyes gazing at my face, still tight from the dried blood I had accumulated in my last fight.

'Hey man,' he said to me, 'You've got a little – ' He pointed his index finger towards his own mouth and drew an invisible circle in the air.

Embarrassed, I wiped at my face with my jacket.

'That's better.' He said with a faint chuckle.

I asked him whether there were any monsters around, but he replied with 'Nah, I aint seen nothin', you're weird.' He seemed, rather simple. He was young, but a grown up nonetheless, but he seemed very childish and his body language was immature. He shuffled around and kicked his feet across the road like a child, and wore a small red and blue rucksack that I would expect to see in a playground. I asked him whether we were on the right road to get out.

'Yeah yeah. This road. But it's blocked just up here.'

I displayed a look of despair, and heard Leanne sign sadly.

'But, er, I know a way around.' He said with a hopeful grin, like he was looking to please us or gain some sort of approval, like a child trying to impress and adult. I felt my face light up, Miles mirrored my expression, 'I'll take you,' he walked away, 'Come on…this way.' He looked back at us beckoned us with a waving hand.

'Let's go then.' Leanne said and overtook me with a step that could be mistaken for a skip.

He led us through a gateway and took us down a narrow passage that opened out onto an alleyway. We turned right out of the alley and then left down Neely Street.

Although it was still dark, I felt less threatened, not only because Miles had assured me that he had seen no monsters, but also because there was something about him that was soothing. He had a charming child-like innocence; I suspected that he was Autistic.

We went right again and stopped at a caravan that sat infront of a boarded up tunnel. Miles took out a small key and opened the caravan door. He went inside and called us to follow.

'Is this your caravan?' I asked him.

'No, I found it here. Finder's keepers. I think it's cool, it's my secret base.' He said proudly.

'It's nice.' Said Leanne.

'Are you hungry? I have food and drink if you wan'it.' He said aloud as he buried his head into a cupboard.

'No thanks.' Leanne answered.

Miles took his head out and held his hand towards me, offering a bag of sweets.

'No, thank you.' I shook my head.

'I can show you the way out on the map, _I'm_ staying here though.' Said Miles.

'You're not coming?' I asked.

'I like it here.'

'If you're sure…I need a cigarette.' I said, I opened the door and stepped outside, pulling one out.

'I'm coming too.' Miles called out.

'I'll stay here.' I heard Leanne say.

'You want one?' I held the cigarette packet out to him.

'No thanks, my mum says I it's a bad habit.'

'She's right.'

'How old are you then?'

'25.' Miles said whilst rustling clumsily through the bag of sweets.

'Why are you out here alone?'

'I ran away from home. Mum says I can't live by myself; I want to prove that I don't need her. Why are _you_ here?'

'Honestly? I don't even fucking know.' Miles flinched at my harsh language, looking shocked as though he'd never heard such a word before.

'You swore.' He said surprised.

'Sorry. I'm just so frustrated. You don't know what was over there.' I looked towards the lake, picturing the horror of the place as I took another drag of smoke.

There was a moment of silence before Miles continued.

'W…what's with you?' He looked at me shyly and then at the caravan where I had left Leanne.

'My wife,' I had been gazing at the side of the caravan, picturing Leanne inside. 'We're getting a divorce.

'Oh…'

'I…treated her badly.'

'Just say you're sorry.' Miles said naively.

'You don't understand, you don't know what I did to her.' I felt suffocated by a wave of guilt that was stirred up by Miles' comments. I stubbed out the cigarette, keen to change the subject, and suggested we went back into the caravan so that Miles's could show me the way out using my map.


	6. Chapter 6

By firelight, Miles showed Leanne and me the best way out of Silent Hill. He directed us through the tunnel that the caravan sat next to, and told us that Carroll Street would take us back to Nathan Avenue which would then lead us towards where I had left the car.

'Are you sure you're not coming?' I asked him as we left.

'Yeah, I'm sure. Bye.' He smiled cheerfully and casually closed the door.

The two of us were once again in the darkness. I had forgotten that we were in such an haunting place, and that there was no one else here.

'If I loose you,' I started, 'I'll wait for you back at the caravan. Okay?'

'Okay. We'll meet at the caravan if we get split up then. There's the door.' Leanne pointed to a gateway framed by a make-shift wall covering the entrance to the tunnel. Next to the it were a few scrap pieces of metal, one of which was a nice sturdy rod.

'This might come in handy.' I armed myself with it and Leanne took hold of the torch.

Had it been light, I suspect the tunnel would have looked dark and foreboding, but in the darkness, the closed area captured the torch from the fire and looked rather inviting. The flame warmed the brick walls and soaked the environment in an orange ambience.

Just as I was starting to feel somewhat comfortable, I became aware of a heavy pain in my head. It began to intensify and suddenly a roaring scream of an air raid siren wailed in my ears. The incredible sound pounded my head until I was cowering on the floor clutching my ears, and squeezing my eyes closed. I heard Leanne call out to me but when I tried to call back, the cry of the siren choked me.

The noise slowed and faded into a dull persistent hum that seemed to go on and on until my ears became accustomed to it. I looked up; Leanne was crouching down with a look of total amazement on her face.

'What happened?' The tunnel no longer looked the way it had before.

'The road…it just peeled away, like…like dry paint.' She stepped backwards; her feet landed with a clang. We were standing on mesh grating; the entire floor was made up of latticed metal, red with corrosion, and through the gaps, was an infinite drop that we were suspended above.

We both turned to a strange noise like footsteps, behind us but nothing was there despite it continuing.

'WHOA!' I jumped at the sight of a huge creature hanging by bulbous arms beneath the mesh floor that we stood on. It swung its huge chassis across the frame with legs descending at least 15 feet below.

'MOVE!' I made a grab for Leanne's hand and pulled her along as we ran through the tunnel, our metallic footsteps echoing around us.

Leaving the tunnel was a bigger mistake than entering it; the road was still metal grating, with big drops limiting its coverage, and a deep vermillion glow vaguely illuminated the street with a dirty radiance. Massive dark wind turbines stood erect in the darkness, growing from the black like dead trees and towering above us with sinister rusted blades that slowly turned in the humid heat that ascended from the atramentous void , powered it seemed, by the flames of hell that lay somewhere beneath, gazing into us with it's unsheltered eye.

Buildings stood in red ruin, decorated with the jagged edges of broken beams and old pipework, and reflected the direful moan of the turbine blades back and forth.

Afraid of plummeting off the edge, we moved with prudence across the metal floor. More repulsive armless monsters obstructed our path with their slow, strained movements. I sent a couple of them to an infinite fall with a few firm knocks with the steel bar, others I beat relentlessly until their bodies were inanimate masses of cold, chewed flesh. I enjoyed killing them; I found myself becoming lost in the aggressive rhythmic beatings, gasping and growling with unwavering hostility. Their colourless sinew was mashed under the steel rod like rotten meat until it began to squash through the holes in the flooring.

I felt my belligerence fluctuate as we came closer to Nathan Avenue and my confidence of getting out grew, but our hopes were thwarted when we ran into another impassable roadblock.

More monsters approached us; unable to go back through the tunnel, we ran along Carroll Street and headed into the first building we could, desperate to escape their increasing numbers and the apocalyptic decay of the town.

'Oh God.' I gasped in despair, struggling to breathe.

'Where are we?' Leanne tenderly rested her hand on my shoulder as she looked around at the dank corridor. It was a horribly depressing place, the walls and ceiling were grey and marred with large, black damp patches, and the tiled floor was stained and discoloured.

We went through a nearby door and found a small cramped office. There was a curious red symbol painted on the wall. The large pattern consisted of a series of circles and characters arranged within two larger circles that were filled with bizarre runic writing of some kind. I have never seen such a thing before, and don't know what it means, but it made an impression on me. I felt drawn to it.

Leanne found some paperwork on a desk; she handed some of it to me. They were patient's notes.

'Are we in a hospital?' Leanne asked.

'I think so.'

'Maybe there's some dressing and stuff here I can use to clean up your chest.'

I had briefly forgotten about the seeping lacerations on my torso, but the pause in our journey had rudely reminded me of the pain. We left the office and went into another room nearby where we found a small first aid cupboard. Leanne gently cleaned my wounds and lightly dressed them. Without the dark blood that had dried on my skin, the cuts didn't look so bad. She pressed the dressing against my skin and held it there whilst she picked off pieces of tape. Whilst she wasn't looking, I allowed myself the pleasure of pretending her touch was out of affection rather than pity. Our eyes met for an instant and she looked down in embarrassment. Does she still have feelings for me? I felt like we were young again, and our relationship hadn't been sullied by the awful things I did. She seemed to not remember those incidents.

'That'll do for now, but we should get some spare dressings to take with us just in case. We should also look for some pain killers and anything else we might need.' She stated formally.

We had to look elsewhere for anything more than small dressings and antiseptic cream so we looked for a storeroom. We pushed a pair of heavy doors that screeched as they opened. A current of stale air rushed towards us, carrying a foul stench and we were met with a long dark corridor that stretched into a piceous blank.

'This loo…'

'Ssshhh.' I hushed Leanne and leaned towards the corridor. 'Can you hear that?'

I could hear a very faint sound, a tap followed by a second tap that was suppressed by a grinding scrape. It was so quiet, but slowly getting louder. Tap, tap scrape. Tap, tap scrape.


	7. Chapter 7

Tap, tap scrape. Tap, tap scrape.

As it came closer, the taps grew into thumps that echoed and vibrated through the hallway. The tension of waiting for the source of the noise to appear was unbearable. Every time the noise got louder, I anticipated its arrival, but still all we got was darkness. I knew that it would have been wise to leave at that point, but we were transfixed by curiosity, and terror. The blood stained walls shook with each thump, I could feel the vibrations ripple through me.

Finally something came steadily piercing into the dim light. I readied my weapon, despite the instinct that it would be no use here. The large object stretched out of the darkness like a dark metal beak with rusted bolts sealing the edges. Beneath the growing iron structure, the huge body of a man emerged from the gloom; the large iron pyramid sat on his shoulders, extending forward like a blind helmet. Bleary light fell on to the muscles of the massive man, highlighting his bulging physique that stood 10 feet tall. His cumbrous legs were hidden behind a long flesh coloured skirt of patchwork leather that was blemished by old stains of brown blood. Bearing his powerful upper body he tediously headed for us, dragging with him a colossal blade of steel that did not reflect light, but soaked it into its tenebrous surface as it was dragged across the tiles of the floor. The headless man strode towards us with large awkward steps that were uncouth and laboured as though his legs were solid lead and black veins meandered across his burly arms and stood out against his dead, ecru skin.

'Oh fuck.' I exclaimed in disbelief.

Leanne shrieked in terror at the horrific sight and desperately pulled at the doors we had come through which had closed behind us and now refused to budge. I joined her efforts to open the doors, my gaze madly shifting between the handle, and the abomination that drew near.

'It won't open! Oh God.' Leanne cried. Her cracked voice reverberated down the corridor but bore no effect on the demon as it relentlessly came for us.

I reached for another door and found it to be open. The pair of us didn't hesitate to go through it, and entered a large square room of wet, bloody walls and a corroded steel floor. The floor only scaled the outer edges of the room, and framed a huge black hole that dropped into total darkness. We hopelessly tried to ignore the loudening thuds of the demon's footsteps and ran through the room towards another door on the other side. As we came closer to it, it burst open at the rotten hands of a woman entering from the other side. Her putrid body oozed and pulsed under a torn and discoloured nurse's uniform and her face was bound by bloody bandages. She blocked our route, wielding a vicious spike and stumbled towards us, clumsily lashing at the air with the dagger. I hastily thrashed her arm with my metal rod until I heard the crunch as it shattered and shifted under her putrid skin. She let out a muffled grunt and grabbed my shoulder, causing me to release my weapon and let it fall into the deep hole. I struggled with the her as she gripped my neck with both her good arm, and her broken arm. I was mesmerized by the glimpses of purified flesh I caught through small gaps in the bandages that bound her foul face. A small blade appeared by my eye and I saw Leanne's hand presenting it to me. I clasped it and violently slashed at the woman's body. She collapsed in a puddle of blood, and left us at the mercy of the man that pursued us, and more nurses that started entering the room. One leapt at me and sent me backwards and off of the edge of the platform into the hole, but I managed to grab the edge and leave myself dangling helplessly from the metal ledge.

'Michael!' Leanne bent down and held my hand, trying to pull me up, but she was dainty and weak and couldn't lift me. She moved her arms to my elbow and tugged. I heard a bang as a door opened and felt the rumble of the demon's footsteps enter the room. A nurse pulled Leanne's legs out from under her and left her lying on the floor, staring into my eyes as the women jerked at her feet trying to drag her towards them. She looked at me, silently pleading for me to make it out of the hole and help her, but she was distracted by the titanic man drawing nearer. She took one last look at me with glistening eyes and was dragged away. Her nails punctured my arm and ripped off slithers of skin as she disappeared.

I saw the horrendous helmet of the rotting man rise above the ledge I clung to as he followed the feral nurses that took Leanne. My fingers gave way and I felt my stomach rise into my throat as gravity took hold of me, and as I fell, I heard Leanne screaming.

*******

A long strip of faint light appeared slowly. My head throbbed and spun as I gently opened my eyes. Delirious, I lay for a while adjusting to the light, and when I noticed a cupboard laying sideways, I realised I was on the floor. I sat up on the cold concrete and waited for my head to stop spinning before getting up. I looked above me and saw a faint square of red light that radiated from the room that I had fallen from. I had to go back for Leanne.

I quickly searched the basement for some stairs and rushed for the first floor where we had been. I easily found the corridor that the Demon had appeared in and entered the room to find him standing their alone, basking in his own horror. He slowly turned and faced me with that awful pyramid helmet, and displayed the wet blood that dripped down his chest from the dark hollow that lay inside, as though he had been feasting on fresh carrion. He towered above me, why did I confront him? He was forged from the very hands of Lucifer. He is evil incarnate. The mere thought of him terrifies me. I tried to demand that he told me where Leanne was, but he doesn't respond to human communication, he is not a creature of reason, he is a creature of destruction and chaos, and he bore no pity for me despite my wounds and fragility. He simply moved towards me and clutched my neck with a single hand and lifted me into the air with ease. I thought I was going to die; I couldn't leave without her, but I couldn't get past him. I thought 'surely she is dead, surely he has devoured her and it is her blood that garnishes his chest.'

He held me for an eternity, seemingly savouring the moment of delicious torture, but I suddenly realised that maybe Leanne _was_ still alive and that she would only be freed if I were alive to save her. So I struggled, I struggled and struggled until I could evade his grip. I fell to the floor and scrambled back to the corridor and anticipated his pursuit. But as I ran, I was startled by a face appearing at the door.

'Hi.' Miles said casually. He wore a subtle expression that showed he was confused by my erratic behaviour as I ran towards him.

'Run! Go go!' I yelled at him, but he just stood there motionless.

I turned around to see my enemy, but he was gone. That demon was gone. Had Miles scared him away? What could possibly scare such a beast?

'I suddenly remembered that I showed you the wrong way.'

'What?' I stood in a daze at the incredible situation.

'The road out there is blocked. There's another way.' Miles shuffled his feet and pointed in the direction of the road.

'We have to leave here Miles. My wife, she…' I couldn't bring myself to say it; I couldn't tell him what had happened. I didn't want to wait for him to ask where Leanne was, so I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the front of the hospital and opened the main door.

Light blinded me as we left the building; shear white dazzled my virgin eyes as I was confronted by the town again, this time, back to the way it was when I had first arrived. The grey roads were empty and cold, and the street was again, shrouded by a heavy fog that crept between the houses. The macabre town stood in silence, haunting, but unthreatening.


	8. Chapter 8

White mist drifted across the street, the darkness had gone, so had the wind turbines and the mesh flooring. I could feel my arm bleeding where Leanne had clawed me before she was dragged off. Miles wondered down the steps that lead to the hospital entrance and headed up the road.

'Wait,' I paced towards him, 'Did you see that _thing_ in there?'

'What thing?' He asked blankly as he watched his feet shuffle along the pavement.

'You didn't see it?' I walked sideways to face him whilst keeping up with him. He shook his head dismissively as if he were in his own little world and turned away from the direction of the tunnel, 'Wait, I need to go back to the caravan. I have to wait for Leanne.'

'Why?'

'We said we would meet there if we got split up.'

'I don't know.' Miles stopped and shifted from side to side indecisively.

'Please, can I have the key to the caravan? I can't wait outside.'

'Okay, but I need to go with you to open the door.'

'Thank you.'

We headed back through the tunnel; I trod hesitantly over the concrete, remembering what had happened last time I came through there. We entered the old caravan and I sat anxiously at the table.

'I don't know what to do. Leanne was taken. I don't know where she is. And that _thing, _that _demon_. It had blood on its chest, it tried to kill me. It was going to _eat_ me.' The whole time I sat there mumbling to myself, Miles was taking everything out of his rucksack and placing it neatly on the table in rows. He counted every piece and hovered above them like he was checking that nothing was missing. The bag was filled with colourful items like a green compass that looked like it had come from a cereal box, a small pair of fold-out binoculars and other things. He then placed each one back in his bag one by one with care, as though every piece slotted against the next like a jigsaw puzzle. I know he wasn't listening to me, why would he. I must've sounded mad. When he was done, he put the red rucksack back over his shoulders and bid me farewell.

'I have to go home now.' He stared at the floor with a blank face. He left me an old map, and showed me how to get to the main road out, which cut through some apartment block.

'Okay, thanks.'

I wanted him to leave. This is no place for someone like him. He would not survive. Not long after he left, more of those monsters started appearing, I could see them coming out of the fog through the window. They knew where I am. They always know where I am. They follow me, they hunt me. I was too scared to stay in the caravan; it wasn't going to keep them out forever, so I left. I needed somewhere securer to wait for Leanne. I checked the map for the best place. There was a bar we passed on the way to the caravan when we first met Miles, I couldn't remember what it was called, but I knew what road it was on so I left a map for Leanne and a note.

_I'll wait a "BAR Neely's"_

That's where I am now; I figured there might be drink here. Now all I have to do is wait for her. If she ever comes. Why did she come here in the first place? Her Grandmother died not long after we split up, but she doesn't remember. She's not the same. It's like she's forgotten everything.

_It was so beautiful_

I miss her; I miss those days we spent together. It was like a dream seeing her that way. Seeing her as she used to be when we came here years ago. But it doesn't make sense.

You should know that I beat her. I beat her everyday. I started drinking, and I couldn't control myself. She made me so angry, she could've left me and had a family, but she stayed, and everyday, just looking at her reminded me of how inadequate I am, how weak. I punched her, I once threw her down the stairs. Her arm; I burnt it over the stove because she told her Mother we were arguing. She never wore short sleeves after that. She stopped seeing her friends, and she only spoke to her family on the phone but never told them what was happening. Her parents found out, they saw the bruises when she had to go to the hospital for the burn. And she never returned home, she moved back in with her parents.

The scratches that she left on my arm, they aren't there anymore. And the dressings on my chest are gone. Why is my arm unscathed? Though the wounds on my chest are real, and covered in blood that's dried and turned almost black.

I'm still waiting for her, maybe I should just die. Though I think I might be heading to a different place than Leanne.

The monsters are gathering outside. I think I might let them in. Or maybe I'll just run and see how far I get. Either way, I will die here, but maybe if I can leave something of value behind that could help anyone else who winds up here, something that I can take with me when I leave, so that I can warn them of the dangers in this town. Though maybe my dead body will be warning enough.

Just in case Leanne returns, I will leave my map so that she can find her way home.

_I'm going to write everything that__  
__I've learned so far. Maybe that will __  
__help you out somehow.___

_If you're reading this,__  
__it probably means I'm__  
__already dead._

_I saw those demons. They were__  
__there, I'm certain. But my friend__  
__says he didn't see anything.__  
__If that's true, does that mean__  
__that what I saw was an illusion?___

_But whether that demon that__  
__ate human beings was real, or __  
__whether it was just some kind__  
__of hallucination that my mind__  
__dreamed up... one thing I know__  
__for sure is that I'm beyond all__  
__hope._

_It seems that they're attracted__  
__to light. That's why people who__  
__need light to see are their natural__  
__prey.__  
__They also react strongly to sound.___

_If you want to go on living,__  
__you'd be better off just sitting__  
__in the dark and staying quiet.__  
__But even that probably won't save__  
__you._

_If you're going to try to fight them,__  
__the most important thing is to relax.__  
__It's dangerous to fire a gun while__  
__you're all crazy with fear.___

_Take good aim, and then squeeze__  
__the trigger. And don't forget to__  
__finish them off. I think most of__  
__those creatures can be killed,__  
__even if they are tougher than__  
__people._

_Run away._


End file.
